1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the surgical treatment of intervertebral discs in the lumbar, cervical, or thoracic spine that have suffered from tears in the anulus fibrosis, herniation of the nucleus pulposus and/or significant disc height loss.
2. Description of the Related Art
The disc performs the important role of absorbing mechanical loads while allowing for constrained flexibility of the spine. The disc is composed of a soft, central nucleus pulposus (NP) surrounded by a tough, woven anulus fibrosis (AF). Herniation is a result of a weakening in the AF. Symptomatic herniations occur when weakness in the AF allows the NP to bulge or leak posteriorly toward the spinal cord and major nerve roots. The most common resulting symptoms are pain radiating along a compressed nerve and low back pain, both of which can be crippling for the patient. The significance of this problem is increased by the low average age of diagnosis, with over 80% of patients in the U.S. being under 59.
Systems and methods for repairing tears in soft tissues are known in the art. Also, disclosed in the art are methods of augmenting the intervertebral disc. However, the efficacious treatment of intervertebral discs has not been adequately addressed using the systems and methods in the art. Accordingly, there still remains a need for devices and methods to treat intervertebral discs that have been compromised, including, but not limited to, discs that have suffered from tears in the anulus fibrosis, herniation of the nucleus pulposus and/or significant disc height loss.